FORT PAYNE, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Ethics Commission has been asked to determine if there was a violation when the publicly funded DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office website displayed re-election campaign material of Sheriff Jimmy Harris.

Harris said it was an inadvertent mistake made by a technician, but DeKalb County Commission President Sid Holcomb sent a complaint to the ethics panel in Montgomery.

“It has come to my attention that Sheriff Harris is using a publicly funded website to host his campaign webpage,” Holcomb wrote.

Ethics Commission General Counsel Hugh Evans responded that the investigation will be assigned to a special agent. But Evans cautioned that “due to our backlog, we cannot always investigate matters as quickly as we would like.”

Harris, who is opposed by Republican Lamar Bray, said an independent Internet technician handling the sheriff’s office site mistakenly uploaded the campaign material during an update to the office website a few months ago. Harris said that when he learned of the mistake from a newspaper ad, the material was immediately removed.

“I welcome an ethics investigation, because they will be able to confirm the truth — there was an error, a mistake and nothing more,” he said.

The issue was raised at Tuesday’s county commission meeting by Richard Hardin, a campaign worker for Bray who said he was disturbed by the political use of government property.

“I want to clear the air on a few things,” Hardin said. “I am a campaign worker for Lamar Bray, but this is not a campaign issue.”